I've recently bought myself an Apple TV, and I've been using VisualHub to convert some of my video files so that I can store them in iTunes and in turn watch them through Apple TV. This has been working well, however I've run into a problem in that some of the files seem to be 4:3 rather than 16:9, and when I view these files on my TV, I get the black gaps at either side of the picture, which is pretty annoying.

I know that VisualHub has a 'force 16:9 anamorphic' option for DVD conversion, but is there a way that I can change these files to fullscreen (or even widescreen) for conversion to MP4 for Apple TV?

Thank you for your reply, AndyClift. I'm converting mostly from AVI to MP4 - the files are all converting perfectly fine, and everything plays via Apple TV, my issue is with the video files I have that are not in the widescreen format. I have several that I converted and it's only now that I've played them through Apple TV that I've realised they don't play full screen. I'm looking for a solution to make all my files the same aspect ratio - I don't mind if they're widescreen (although preferably I'd like them to play full screen) but the ones that play with the huge black gaps at either side of the picture are bothering me. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Wondershare has a product called Wondershare Ultimate Video Converter for MAC. I have used it to convert lower quality formats to Apple TV 2 HD. I have not ran into any real issues yet. I had the same issue.

2. Stevo: of course videos that are not in widescreen don't take up the whole screen. That is kind of the point.

Do you REALLY want to either a) blow the film up so you're only seeing about a third of it (but it fills the screen) or b) stretch the film so everyone looks fat? Because those are your options.

The black bars are telling you that you are seeing the ENTIRE picture area of the film. Different films were shot in different formats, and there's nothing you can do about that other than the two options I mentioned above, both of which are (IMO) crimes against cinema.

I agree that Wondershare might be spammers, however for what I want their software accomplishes pretty good. As far as I can tell it can take a video and (normal) and convert it to widescreen or 16:9 so the bars are only at the top. The faces do not looked stretched. I know it gives a different format then what I see on my tv if I take a picture and zoom or stretch it. I have had really good luck with Wondershare, they have gone as far as to refund me money for a product because I was not happy. I have their Ultimate Converter for my Mac and one for my work laptop.

1. I didn't say their software didn't work as advertised. I said you'll pay more of a price than just the cost, and as a whole the Mac community doesn't want to support companies that operate using those methods.

2. There is no way to "convert" a 4:3 picture into widescreen without either a) zooming in or b) stretching. It's just not mathematically possible to avoid this. So when you convert a 4:3 to widescreen, you are likely zooming in -- and losing the composition of the picture that the filmmakers intended.

Got to agree with chas_m if the source is 4:3 that's the best way to watch it.

But if you simply have to fill the whole screen your TV will have various picture settings (wide, super-wide, 4:3, 1:1, 16:9, 16:10, zoom, actual pixel etc etc) try flicking through a few of those to see how it looks. That way once you're fed up of the top and bottom of the film being cropped or everything looking stretched you can easily go back to the original without changing the source file.

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